The Jarvis brothers were sentenced at Maidstone Crown Court

by Keith Hunt

Two brothers said to have "made a hash" of a cannabis growing venture have narrowly avoided being jailed.

A judge told Kevin and Mark Jarvis: "You may never appreciate how close you came to serving an immediate custodial sentence.

"If I thought for one moment this was the beginning of a commercial enterprise, you would be going out of the back door of this court, rather than the front."

The brothers, of Cobham Street, Gravesend, admitted cultivating cannabis and were each sentenced to 11 months imprisonment - suspended for two years - with 275 hours' unpaid work.

Maidstone Crown Court heard cannabis plants were found growing at two rented houses in Ramsgate in February this year.

Svilvia Booker, prosecuting, said police went to a house in Downs Road and were let in by 37-year-old Mark Jarvis. There was equipment and 250 plants were being dried.

There were also carrier bags of leaves and cuttings frozen in the fridge.

Jarvis told officers about another address - Elmstone Road - being "operated" by his brother Kevin, 39, where more plants, both drying and growing, were seized.

"Mark Jarvis said they had together decided to go into the enterprise," said Miss Booker. "The first yield was poor quality. They then rented the other property to grow better yielding plants.

"It was a factory set up, rather than an uninhabited property."

Danny Moore, for Mark Jarvis, told Judge Charles Byers: "They made a bit of a hash of this cultivation."

Told that Jarvis was of exemplary character, the judge said: "It makes it all the more bizarre that someone with unusual skills should be involved in something like this."

Peter Forbes, for Kevin Jarvis, said it would be wrong to regard the houses as cannabis factories.

"The whole escapade started from his use of cannabis," he said. "He suffered with problems with his chest and it was diagnosed as some rare form of pneumonia. He took cannabis to relieve the symptoms.

"They had the idea to grow their own. The scale is relatively modest. They have been complete idiots and rather inept."

Judge Byers said: "It was not done on the basis of 'let's just put a few plants in for personal use'. There is more to it than that. That’s what concerns me."

He told the brothers: "Make no mistake about it, cannabis is a dangerous drug. If you sat where I did, trying people on very serious offences who now have schizophrenia, you would know that in a large amount of cases it starts with cannabis and causes all sorts of behavioural problems.

"I am quite satisfied - and I don't mind who knows it - you both with some determination took part in the cultivation of these drugs. There is little evidence as to what you would have done with them."

But the judge said he was impressed with the "humility and realism" shown by two men with skills and the fact they had "both contributed in a proper way to society".

He was suspending the sentence "because everyone in life deserves one chance".

Judge Byers said of carrying out unpaid work: "You will pull your weight and not give any trouble or lip to those supervising you. I warn you I don't accept anything other than death or serious injury as an excuse for not performing the work."